


Can of Beets

by Mozzarella



Series: That Damn Summer Camp AU [3]
Category: Dark Avengers (Comic), Marvel 616
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Child Abuse, Comedy, Community: gayreign, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Humor, M/M, Slurs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-01-02 04:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1052352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mozzarella/pseuds/Mozzarella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akihiro understands why his dad had to move them (again), but if he thought his last schools were bad, well, this one....</p><p>Let's just say "It's War", sit back, and watch the fireworks.</p><p>[Originally posted at the gayreign livejournal group]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First day

There are moments where you’re convinced the level of intelligence of every human being in your immediate vicinity is ten times lower than it would be outside of high school. Of course, only a small, small portion of those who had the misfortune of being  _in_  high school ever felt that.

 

Aki wished he knew more of those people, because that would definitely make his suffering easier to handle.

 

“It’s high school, Aki. Just handle it like ya did yer last one.”

 

“…Public school.”

 

“Yer last school was a public school too, kid.”

 

“Exactly. Why do you think I quit?”

 

“Ya got kicked out.”

 

“Not by any accident, I promise you. Plus, you saw my grades. I was too smart for them anyway.”

 

Logan sighed the sigh of the long suffering.

 

“I know how smart ya are, Aki. Just wish ya’d at least try to finish up in this school. We can’t afford to send ya to a school that’ll fit ya, and we won’t be able to afford another boot if ya mess this one up. You and Laura are smart kids, and yer gonna get somewhere. Be somebody.”

 

Aki bit his tongue to prevent himself from interrupting his father’s platitudes.

 

Unlike other parents, Logan never wanted for good grades or an outstanding kid—he had those in both Akihiro and Laura, both of them beyond their years. He was never disappointed in Aki’s performance, but it was obvious that he didn’t like the way his son was. The only reason Aki let that slide was because he had to take care of Laura….

 

And because Logan loved him, loved them both, even when he and his manly pride didn’t say it.

 

Aki was born to a mother who died during labor, a child they had to cut out before he went with her.

 

The people who knew that speculated this anomaly in his birth had to be the reason Akihiro ended up so smart, but no one dared say it in his or Logan’s face.

 

Laura was adopted into the family when Aki was six and she was only four. He tormented her, teased her, told her she wasn’t good enough because she wasn’t a real daughter—every one of those insults voided each time he held her hand and led her along safely through her troubles. He took care of her those many nights Logan couldn’t come home because of the double, triple shifts he pulled to pay for two kids. Aki had no idea why he’d adopted Laura if he had trouble paying for the two, but he suspected it had something to do with Aki’s inability to make friends.

 

In his earlier days, pre-school and the start of elementary, Aki was great at getting kids to follow him—kids who had no idea he was using them until he got one of his fair-weather ‘friends’ injured and people stayed away from him afterward.

 

There was no denying that Aki had something sinister going on under his charm, but honestly, how could he help it if people were just stupid? He had yet to meet anyone he genuinely enjoyed hanging around… Unless you counted summer camp.

 

He had been sent there for three years when someone gave Logan a free pass for one of his kids. Laura was too young, so Aki went to see if he wasn’t going to kill his father for even trying…

 

And he enjoyed it. Really enjoyed it.

 

He’d been roped into the crazy train under a certain maniacal counselor and joined a team of very strange people, some of them smart enough to make him feel challenged.

 

Those were the good days. They stopped the first time he quit high school in freshman year and he had to move. He’d been fourteen then.

 

Now he was sixteen and in junior year, attending another public school in another city where another one of his father’s attempts to earn his family a normal life would fail. Still, he did promise he’d try this time.

 

That promise held in his head for a while, up until the very moment in the cafeteria where someone purposely spilled low-grade, cold chili on his head.

 

Fuck promises, this was war.


	2. Avoidance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wow, did your dad cross some wormhole into TV’s favorite hackneyed high school plot when he drove you guys to the city?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for: horribad high school cliches

  
  


“Oh,  _sorry._ Didn’t see ya there, newbie. Hand must’ve slipped.”

 

Aki promptly got up, flapping his stained vest and slipping it off, using the very same material to wipe his unusually-cut hair as clean as he could manage of the disgusting red.

 

“Of course,” he said coldly, making the people in the table nearest flinch.

 

“Lucky you dress queer or you’d have to be walkin’ around half naked,” the irritatingly macho voice continued. Aki grit his teeth and spared a glance behind him and—yup, there it was, the flash of deep orange and white, the school’s colors. Typical. Third day in and he was being baptized-by-chili at the hand of a jock.

 

“As much as I’m sure you’d enjoy that—” Aki paused, letting the words sink in to a few startled ‘oohs’ at the obvious jab. “—I’ve still got enough dignity to survive a cheap bullying tactic.”

 

Laughter was replaced by badly-worn rage on the dense-looking face, and Aki found himself, surprisingly, lifted a little off the ground, keeping balance on his toes as the big guy grasped him by the shirt.

 

“You do not wanna mess with me, newbie. That was just a taste of what’ll happen to you if you keep prancin’ around in your fancy clothes like a fucking queer faggot.”

 

Ah. So that was the stressor. School jock was a school homophobe… with these clichés, Aki could pile up on the reasons to present to his dad about why he hated this school. There was a very simple solution to this problem, though.

 

“You noticed me so fast, one would think you were checking me out… Brady,” Aki said, reading the last name on the back of the custom sports jacket. “Be careful—people might find out you’re a… what did you call it…  _fucking queer faggot._ ”

 

He was expecting the punch. He dropped before it hit, landing a well-placed kick with reflexes from his childhood before retreating wisely into a gathering crowd of curious, gossiping teens.

   
\-------

So that…. Wasn’t smart. Not one of his finer moments, to be sure, but now that he’d finished dealing out his spur-of-the-moment retaliation, his conscience (which he was working on getting rid of, eventually) reminded him of his promise to his dad.

 

He soaked the chili out of his hair and as much as he could out of his vest, pointedly ignoring the odd guys who came and went, eyeing him with curiosity, concern, and at one point, interest, judging by where his eyes went.

 

Aki considered buying a hat. His hair was very much against Logan’s ‘keep yer head low and keep yerself out of trouble’ policy. Still, the tuque that he thought would hide his more prominent feature reminded him more of Lester than it did himself… and there he went again, remembering summer camp.

 

When was the last time he had that much fun?

 

Sighing, Aki draped his vest over his arm and went to attend his next class.

\---------------

**_Shinryu1946 ’s status: Evolution does not exist in high school._ **

_DrSofenMD : Bad day?_

_…_

_Neanderthals abound, eh? Would’ve thought you of all people could handle an idiot or five._

_Shinryu1946 : Seven. Got cornered half way down the hall after Chemistry._

_DrSofenMD:  Who the fuck did you piss off, Hiro?_

_Shinryu1946: Apparently, the school’s star linebacker._

_And his teammates._

_And his girlfriend._

_And his girlfriend’s teammates._

_DrSofenMD: Cheerleader? Wow, did your dad cross some wormhole into TV’s favorite hackneyed high school plot when he drove you guys to the city?_

_ Shinryu1946: Apparently._

_So I’m thinking of buying a hat._

_DrSofenMD:  I am so proud of you._

_…_

_Why a hat?_

_Shinryu1946:  So long as there are stupid people in the world, I figured keeping my very obvious tail out of sight will get them off my backs. The blank looks on their faces tell me they probably wouldn’t want to waste hypothetical brain cells on remembering my face._

_ DrSofenMD: Believe me, honey, it’s not the hat. As long as you’re as fabulous as you always dress, they’ll never get off your back._

_Drop the vests, at least._

_Shinryu1946:  You ask too much. I would never forsake those vests, not even for you, dear._

_DrSofenMD:  Yeah, I got that. Anyway, the hat. What kind of hat?_

_Shinryu1946:  http://christiangays.com/store/images/tuque_black_triangle.jpg_

_DrSofenMD:  Not your look. More of Lester’s._

_Shinryu1946:  That’s what I thought too. Speaking of Lester, where the heck did he drop to anyway? The number he gave went out of service last year, and I’m pretty sure they’ve purged his online accounts by now._

_DrSofenMD:  IDK. Haven’t heard from him since then either. Guy doesn’t even use the internet… this day and age, that probably means he’s dead._

**_ScorpionPI  is online._ **

_Shinryu1946:  Damn it. Well, now that Mac’s online, you don’t need me._

_DrSofenMD:  Avoidance is not an attractive quality._

**_Shinryu1946  is offline._ **

****

_DrSofenMD:  You know I was kidding about the dead thing, right? No need to get upset._


	3. Neighbors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> History and present situations

He woke to the sound of shouting. It was muffled, from the side of the wall connecting their little house to the neighbor’s.

Laura slept in the room across the hall, so Aki didn’t have to worry about her waking to the commotion—he could barely hear what was going on himself, but something had woken him.

 

A thump—hard, when the thickness of the walls were taken into consideration—against the wall, right where Aki’s head was, told him what probably tore him out of slumber the first time. It was the thump of a human body, accompanied by very male, very angry shouts that accompanied the sounds of quick footsteps and the slam of a screen door somewhere around the back.

 

With the finality of breaking glass, the sound of which indicated that something had been smashed against the other side of the wall, again, the commotion died down. When Aki was convinced nothing more was going to happen, he went back to sleep.

 

\---

“I didn’t know we had neighbors,” Aki said, offhand, at the breakfast table. “O’course we got neighbors. Couldn’t afford to buy anythin’ private like in uptown,” Logan responded.

 

“I know,” Aki said shortly. “… I think the dad’s abusive,” he added.

 

Logan raised an eyebrow, his mouth set in a deep frown. It meant he was thinking about what to say, when really, he didn’t even have to say a thing. Aki sighed, laying down his half-eaten piece of toast while Laura watched the exchange (or lack of) with quiet interest.

 

“And?” is what Logan settled for eventually.

 

“And I was wondering if we had a back yard,” Aki said, cutting the eggs on his plate delicately. To anyone else, it would have been a non-sequitur, but Logan’s room was on the same side of the building and his hearing was actually much better than Akihiro’s.

 

“Sure,” Logan said, tucking back the newspaper he was reading. “The back’s boarded up but I can get that shit out later on when I get back from dayshift.”

 

“No need,” Aki said. “I can do it. I was just wondering if it would piss you off enough if I broke open the back door with the sledgehammer.”

 

Logan grimaced. “Hands off the sledgehammer, kid. And stay out of the basement, I told ya. It’s dangerous.”

 

“’Course it is, daddy,” Aki said dryly, knowing that it made Logan uncomfortable whenever he used the word in the tone he did. It reminded him of another time, the first time he’d ever met Aki, just when Laura had been adopted into the family, and the three years afterward where he was finally able to take him as his own son, after some very difficult struggle.

 

It took another six years for Logan to be sure the kid wasn’t going to kill him while he slept, but it was worth the time and the work to get Aki to know what he was part of.

 

It was Laura, with her long silences and ability to know just what to say to her older brother that hurried the process along considerably.

 

“Hurry up, squirt, or you’re getting left behind.”

 

“You won’t. I have your bag.”

 

He was grateful they didn’t have to take the bus. That would have just been insulting, more than anything.

 

The car wasn’t practical when public transit made the commute easier for Logan and his day job, so it was free reign for both Akihiro and Laura whenever they see fit to use it, and really, Laura didn’t have a single adventurous bone in her body, so it was up to Aki to misuse the damn thing as well as he pleased.

 

They got to school a few minutes shy of first bell. Surprisingly, Laura was greeted by a group of freshmen that Aki guessed were her classmates, the way they were calling out. They stopped right at the moment Aki parked, some of them gaping openly, switching between Laura’s somehow-but-not-really-grunge look to that of her brother’s, who, with sunglasses slipped just a little ways down his nose, looked like he belonged uptown where everyone was richer than they knew what to do with.

 

“Laura! Wanna hang before second bell? We still haven’t shown you around the back yet,” a confident-looking brunette invited, his eyes trained on Laura. Aki knew that look. He smirked, whispering something to his sister that made her punch him in the arm.

 

“I’ll see you at three,” Laura said placidly as she got out of the car.

 

The school was relatively big, much like the town it was in—suburban and small but wide enough to fit the people who needed the space. As soon as Aki made his way down the halls, he could feel the stares, the appraisals, some suspicious but most in awe—obviously, news of yesterday’s lunch encounter had spread quickly.

 

As much as Aki wanted to keep his head low, he enjoyed the attention. His inner exhibitionist missed it, as that low, niggling voice at the very back of his mind would say.

 

That voice should have been crushed years ago. Aki sighed, reaching his locker and setting his books in order.

 

He knew the hit was coming before it landed, but damn it, that dent would keep in his locker for a while.

 

“God damn it! Stop moving, you stupid—” Again, Thomas Brady lashed out, trying to land a punch on someone that was too fast for him. Obviously, he wasn’t forgotten from yesterday, hat or no hat.

 

Aki goaded with his hand this time, waving him over while making it look easy. It was exhilarating. He hadn’t been in a real, fists-flying fight in a while, and he was going to milk this one for all it was worth.

 

He dodged every hit easily, hands at his sides and never leaving his pockets until he found his opening.

 

He struck where his instincts told him. He didn’t punch, he didn’t kick, he  _struck_ , and that made all the difference. That, and the body on the floor five seconds later, something like a sickening thud pervading Aki’s senses before he realized exactly what he’d done.

 

“Oh my god.”

 

Someone screamed, somewhere behind him, and his eyes finally focused on the body— _Thomas Brady, just a common teen thug, just a bully, no real threat—_ at his feet.

 

“You killed him!” someone screamed. His girlfriend, kneeling now, while Aki felt his arms caught by bigger, stronger ones—Brady’s teammates, he realized belatedly, restraining him because they had no idea what else to do.

 

Someone broke through the crowd, quickly feeling Brady’s neck for a pulse. “He’s not dead,” the guy said, passing his hand slowly under the unconscious teen’s nose. “He’s breathing, too. Knocked out cold, though.”

 

The brunette looked up at the other two letterman-jacketed guys and frowned. “You just gonna stand there? Get some help, why don’t you?” They faltered blankly for two seconds before letting Aki go, running to get the nurse. While everyone rushed forward to check on the unconscious player, or simply find out what was happening, Aki slipped back and away before anyone else could catch him.

 

He made it to the end of the hall before someone caught his shoulder, unusually steady.

 

“Hey. Hey,” he repeated as Aki tries to break the grip. He needed to collect himself, to take in what happened, to—

 

“Hey Fabio, are you with me?”

 

“I wish I wasn’t,” Aki replied automatically, thankful for the mechanical security against the earlier chaos.

 

“Ouch. Way to hit below the belt. So is your whole family made of ninjas or did you take lessons for that neck thing?” It occurred to Aki belatedly that this guy was the one who checked Brady’s pulse and got the other two off his back not a minute ago.

 

“Neck thing?”

 

“You seriously just karate-chopped his neck and he fell down like it’s Friday night. I have  _never_ seen that done outside of movies. I thought that stuff was bullshit,” he continued enthusiastically without dropping the suspicion in his expression. Aki looked the guy over—he was handsome, with eyes that were narrowed and intelligent. Any other day, he’d have been right on him, but this day was not going well for him.

 

“Your point?” he went for instead, moving down the hall, away from the commotion. “Hm, I kind of figured you’d have to be an ass. Either way, giving that idiot a proper bash was the best thing I’ve seen in a while. Marc Spector, by the way.”

 

“… Akihiro Howlett,” Aki introduced, a little more amicably.

 

“I’m just guessing, but you’re either adopted or your mom was Japanese. Or both,” Marc observed.

 

“Both. Was there anything you wanted?” Aki asked pointedly when they reached the front of the school.

 

“Nothing in particular. You know, people’re talking about you. Not that they know you or your name or anything, but you’re pretty obvious with the—” He made a vague gesture down the middle of his head. “So I’ve noted. And you?” Aki questioned.

 

“You’re interesting. I like hanging around interesting people. That a crime?”

 

“It’s not a good idea, is what it is,” Aki said, folding his arms. “Last I heard, it’s called social suicide.”

 

“Hey,” Marc said flippantly, “I’m in film. The AV club. We exist in the shadow of high school social stratification. Easily, I don’t give a shit. Have fun dodging people today, if you’re not cutting.”

 

He waved as Aki laughed, quietly, and they both found a roundabout route to their separate classes.

 

\---

 

“I heard about the fight this morning. How did you not get called to the principal’s office or some authority?” Laura asked curiously as they drove home.

 

“A hat I borrowed from the drama club. They won’t miss it. The only company it’s gotten over the past year is dust,” Aki said, his elbow resting half out the open window.

 

“… Dad…”

 

“Dad doesn’t need to know. Bad enough dealing with the central residency for the idiot population without his ‘I ain’t angry, just disappointed in ya’ speech.”

 

The two of them entered the quiet house without much more fanfare. Aki fell asleep while Laura dutifully did her homework. It was boring up until seven, when Aki woke to the sound of more shouting, but less of the thumping from yesterday than he was expecting.

 

What he  _did_  hear eventually was the slam of a screen door, and once more, his curiosity was piqued.

 

“Laura, you know where Dad keeps the crowbar?”

 


	4. Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Aki starts to get all his eggs in a basket. Basket being his 'to do' list. Eggs being boys.

Laura held the boards while Aki pried. The two of them put a lot of effort into the project, taking their mind off things from the day before.  
   
It was a Saturday, the very day after Aki’s fight. It wasn’t so much the fight that bothered either of them, but the turn it took, where Aki shouldn’t have done what he did just to prove a point. He’d promised himself he’d never use that shit again, but…  
   
But now wasn’t the time to think about it. When Laura’s friends (they were annoyingly insistent, waiting outside in a convertible until Laura was pressured into joining them at the mall or wherever) came by to pick her up, Aki told her he’d take over from where they’d nearly finished.  
   
When he finally pried the last board out, he pushed the metal grilled door open and found himself in a barren little plot with random debris scattered around, brown weeds that looked thoroughly unhealthy winding around the rusting fences separating them from the forest backing the little suburban area, as well as from the neighbors’ backyards.  
   
The other yards looked about the same, some greener, some even unhealthier and more barren than the yard behind their own house. One even had a swing, a little ways off, that looked suspiciously like it would fall at the touch of a hand.  
   
Aki looked over the chain fence at the next yard, colorless and dusty. It had trashcans, some broken beer bottles and a number of cans scattered around, holes punched into them by—oh yeah, those were bullet holes.  
   
The screen door was locked, as far as Aki could see, and it didn’t seem like there was anyone in.  
   
Absently, he wondered if Laura wanted to grow grass, or something.  
   
\----  
  
Laura still hadn’t returned by seven, and Logan wouldn’t until nine. Aki pushed away any semblance of want and opted for meditating on his bed, and then sleeping, though not at the same time. He’d lost control the day before. He couldn’t—he  _wasn’t allowed ­_ to do that again, not ever.  
   
This town was really screwing him over.  
   
From years of honing, Aki made out the slightest of sounds in the back. He got up, moving to the back door carefully.  
   
He looked out and saw someone in the other yard. It was hard to tell details from behind the screen, but Aki could make out a teenager, about his age, in a hoodie sweater. The hood of it was pulled down, revealing a smoothly shaved head— _Skinhead_ , Aki thought.  _Wonderful._    
   
The guy picked up a rock the size of a baby’s fingernail and flicked it in such a way that struck Aki with recognition for a second. He heard something like a tinny bang, and his eyes follow the path of a can that falls off the fence into the back of their own yard. It has a hole in it, similar to the bu—to what Aki  _thought_  were bullet holes.  
   
“Holy shit,” he whispered as he walked right out into the yard.  
   
The other guy looked up at him, all too familiar with the baby-blue eyes that didn’t fit the mischievous, almost cruel, face.  
   
“Shit. Aki?”  
   
Aki approached slowly, still a little off from hours of meditation and overall calmness. It didn’t give him the presence of mind he’d hoped for.  
   
“Either I am having a fucking freaky acid trip or…”  
   
“You’re still a bastard,” Aki murmured as Lester practically jumped over the fence, taking him by the shoulders.  
   
“Damn, it really is you. Who’d ‘a thought? What’s it been—two years?”  
   
 _Maybe,_ Aki thought for a second,  _one last time._  
   
And he took hold of the front of Lester’s jacket and crushed their lips together, almost viciously, teeth ripping a little at skin.  
   
He responded enthusiastically, his arms going around Aki’s slimmer waist.  
   
They broke apart somewhere around five or six minutes later, lips bruised and stinging as they caught their breaths.  
   
“Been wanting to do that for a while, huh?” Lester said breathlessly, smirking.  
   
Aki wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and looked at it thoughtfully, right before punching Lester smack in the jaw.  
   
“Ow! What the fuck!?”  
   
“I just remembered I’m still angry at you,” Aki said, his mouth stretching into a wide grin where he’d wanted to frown.  
   
“You always were a little pissy. So what, finally moved out of that craphole you kept complaining about just to get to this one?” Lester remarked, his own way of saying ‘It’s great to see you again! How are you?’  
   
“I dropped the school and Logan needed a job. I didn’t know you lived here, though,” Aki replied. Lester sat down on the elevated back porch while Aki leaned on the part of the fence that wasn’t rusting.  
   
“You never really bothered to ask me about it. Anyway, it’s not like it’s something I want to advertise too much.”  
   
“What happened to you?” Aki demanded, skipping over niceties and roundabouts to strike head on.  
   
“What?”  
   
“You just fell out of communication. Your number was changed… We had no idea what the hell was going on,” Aki said, trying not to let the concern show in his voice.  
   
Lester grimaced. “That’s what happens when you set your house on fire. Of course, they couldn’t prove that it was on purpose, and I got off after a few months in juvie.”  
   
“Who were you trying to take care of?” Aki asked knowingly.  
   
“Dad. Stupid bastard. He got out, though. Resilient son of a bitch.”  
   
“Like mine,” Aki said, and instantly regretted it as Lester said what he thought: “At least your dad doesn’t beat you.”  
   
This wasn’t a new thing. Aki had known about Lester’s parents since they were thirteen, lying half-naked by the lake at midnight and taking pleasure in the next day, watching camp councilors lose their heads over where the two had disappeared to.  
   
“Yeah,” Aki murmured, wiping his hands on his pants and biting his lips in genuine rue.  
   
“So, what, you go to school here?” Lester asked, changing the subject and gesturing in the general direction of the public school.  
   
“Hm. Nowhere else to go, is there?” Aki replied.  
   
“And you still haven’t killed anyone.”  
   
“Never said that.”  
   
A grin that would have sent a few people running appeared on Lester’s face. “Lemme guess… you’re the ‘faggot bitch’ that beat the shit out of Brady.”  
   
“Word gets around.”  
   
“Locker room gossip. You’d think people’d have better things to do than talk like chicks.”  
   
“Actually, I wouldn’t,” Aki said. “You know, Karla’s looking for you. And Mac,” he said as an afterthought.  
   
“Yeah, well, you can forget the computer—thing got caught in the fire. Closest I can get is in the library,” Lester replied, snorting like that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon.  
   
“Should I tell them?”  
   
Lester looked thoughtful for a while, once or twice glancing at Aki’s face and away again.  
   
“Nah. Not just yet.”  
   
\----  
   
“All due respect, but why are you even here?”  
   
“It’s a free country, and everyone’s avoiding you like the plague. You know how hard free space is to come by during lunch rush?” Marc Spector said by way of explanation, dropping down beside Aki on the bench.  
   
“Two things, by the way: One, when people say all due respect, they usually say kiss my ass. Two, you’ve got some kind of superpower, I think. Half those guys hate you and half those guys are looking at you like they’re gonna start worshipping the ground you walk on. All of them are scared of you.”  
   
Aki looked up, noting with mild surprise that his sister seemed to be coming over.  
   
“I’m not sure about those guys, though,” Marc remarked, digging into his food. Aki reflected on how strangely agreeable he found the guy’s presence for a moment before noticing the ones Marc was talking about—Laura’s friends were following a few good feet behind her, like they were scared or something.  
   
Oh, right.  
   
“My friends want me to ask if it’s all right to sit at what they say is ‘your table’,” Laura said carefully, looking back at one of her friends for prompting. Said friend, the boy who Aki remembered from before, shrank back and tried in vain to look like he wasn’t paying attention.  
   
Aki took a bite from an apple that came with his meal and got up, carrying his tray holding the rest of his meal with one hand.  
   
“As I understand it, it’s a free country. Go ahead, it’s yours,” Aki said. Marc saluted him as he walked, but didn’t follow, for which Aki was grateful. Glancing back one last time at his sister, Aki didn’t see the collision coming until he was part of it, his tray pitching forward and slamming into a solid chest this time. The meal was pasta with liberal amounts of questionable sauce. It wasn’t pretty.  
   
“Augh! Jesus, man!”  
   
Aki twitched a little before forcing out a small apology, picking up the carton of milk that had dropped from the other guy’s hands, as well as the as-of-yet salvageable, wrapped sandwich. Aki’s meal was no good, but he wasn’t that hungry anyway.  
   
“Damn it. Great. I didn’t even bring an extra,” the blond in front of him muttered.  
   
“Chill out, flame-o. You can borrow my gym shirt. Not like I’m gonna have much use for it today, anyway,” a small, thin-looking brunette in thick glasses said from behind him. “Or you could go half naked. I hear the girls like that.”  
   
“Thanks a lot, Pete. That really helps.”  
   
“Here,” Aki said, interrupting the conversation and handing the blond back his meal. “I’m really sorry about the shirt. If there’s anything I can do to help,” he said with practiced courtesy, the words just about as meaningless to him as the wasted lunch.  
   
“No, it’s… well, actually, can I borrow that? You know, just until I can get another shirt?” asked the blond, gesturing to Aki’s vest. He handed it over helpfully, appraising the eyeful he got when the blond took the stained shirt off.  
   
“Hm.”  
   
“Thanks, man.  I’ll… uh, get this back to you when I can. What’s your name, by the way?”  
   
Aki hesitated, but the brunette—Pete, as the blond called him—spoke up.  
   
“Akihiro something. Howl… Howlett, right?” he said.  
   
“Uh…”  
   
“It’s Peter Parker. From summer camp?” Pete—no, Peter—said, and yes, Aki did remember him.  
   
In the loose sweater and the glasses, he looked so deceptively scrawny, but Aki remembered him as being the fastest climber during obstacle course days, as well as being cheeky and friendly and fun where he seemed so—not, now.  
   
“Yeah, I remember. You study here?”  
   
“Small world, innit? Anyways, Johnny boy, this is Hiro. Hiro, Johnny Storm. Now that we’ve got that done, come on, you’re hurting my eyes,” Peter said to Johnny, pushing him out the cafeteria while all the while, the blond kept throwing glances back at Aki with a look he couldn’t read fast enough.  
   
Well… that was interesting.


	5. Revenge (and more boys)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revenge is a small but satisfying victory--but a date might be better

The site came up Sunday night, pinging back on an untraceable server.  
  
Videos of the school's pride-and-joy football team on a bender at a house party were playing on five different mirror links, presenting every teammate and a half smoking what was clear enough on the video to be proven illegal.  
  
With every attempt to take down the video, two new ones came up off-site, linked back to any and all users who clicked the site's equivalent to a "like" button.  
  
Everyone on the video (which made up about three-fourths of the football team) was suspended until further notice, with investigations by local police ongoing.  
  
The author of the site listed the name DAKEN as the perpetrator.  
  
That was just part of Tony Stark's flare for the dramatic.  
  
"Okay, Howlett, it's done. Got you what you wanted. Even made it especially annoying for anyone who tries to tear the damn thing down. It's coming up Sunday night."  
  
Tony lifted his Italian leather-covered feet and dropped them onto the table, stretching like a self-satisfied cat.  
  
"I did an excellent job, your school's gonna be facing about a year and a half of police suspicion, those jocks will get what's coming to them, and no one will even know who Daken is. Unless, of course, you blabbed about it."  
  
Aki shot him a pointed frown, and Tony raised his hands. "Okay, okay. Obviously, you're not that dumb. Obviously. But don't antagonize me. I helped you. So what do you say to uncle Tony?"  
  
"I appreciate your help, Tony," Aki said, rolling his eyes at the other teen. "Thanks."  
  
"Uh-uh. Nope. You're supposed to say,  _Here's that blackmail material you wanted against Bucky, Tony._  I mean, you could kneel at my feet, too, but I don't think that'd blow over well, would it?"  
  
The side of Aki's mouth quirked into a half-smile, and he pulled a tiny memory card from his shirt pocket.  
  
"Here it is, Tony. Everything you need to know about James Barnes--rebel edition. I can't promise it'll get to Rogers, but I can assure you it's enough to make old ladies cry," he said.  
  
"Then it'll get to Steve," Tony said, holding his hand out as Aki allowed the card to drop delicately into his palm. "Nice doing business with you, Akihiro. All this surveillance work you've done... you could join my company."  
  
"Which company? The one you inherited from your father or the one no one's supposed to know about but secretly owns stocks in some of the most well-known and influential companies in the world?"  
  
"See? This is what I'm talking about," Tony said, grinning.  
  
Aki looked to be deep in thought for a moment, before replying.  
  
"Nope. I'm good."  
  
"Offer's still open when you get out of that hellhole you call a high school, Howlett!" Tony called as he walked out the door.  
  
\--  
  
It started last week, exactly two days after what Aki had come to call the 'pasta incident', or the first time he became a blip on Johnny Storm's radar.  
  
Aki had gone with a tuque to keep himself covered, specifically the tuque he got from Lester when he came around to the front of the house the day before, smoking idly on the steps.  
  
"When did you start?" Aki asked, standing in front of him and throwing a shadow over his figure.  
  
"Funny thing? I don't smoke. Fucks up the lungs."  
  
"So what do you call what you're doing now?" Aki challenged. In response, Lester raised his hand to pull off the black tuque he was wearing on his head and showed Aki the ugly bruise that had blossomed there, splotchy blue and purple under the shadow of the headwear.  
  
"Therapy," Lester answered promptly.  
  
"Poor baby," Aki murmured dryly, climbing the front steps and stroking the side of Lester's cheek as he passed. "Gimme a sec, will you?" he added before the other teen could say anything.  
  
He came back moments later, emerging from the front door with a cool beer in one hand and Advil in the other.  
  
"Better therapy," Aki said, handing him the can.  
  
"Shit, thanks."  
  
Lester downed and drank in silence, Aki sitting right by him, the quiet stretching into minutes. He looked up at the sky and its few meager clouds and remembered the days he spent with Lester in summer camp, passing whole hours just lying together without a word.  
  
It lasted for about twenty minutes.  
  
Aki heard the car pulling around the curb before he saw it, and so did Lester, as he stood and pulled himself over to his side of the steps, disappearing into his own house without a word.  
  
Laura was in the car with her friends, sitting in the back with a boy with black hair, who was trying but failing to look like he wasn't interested. Aki briefly remembered that the knives were in the rack on the kitchen divider before getting up.  
  
"Who's the tool?" Aki asked as Laura came over.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The boy beside you."  
  
"... Oh! That was Julian. He's... one of the group."  
  
"He wants you," Aki stated. Laura's eyes flashed with shock before she steeled herself the way she did best.  
  
"While you usually make your assessments accurately, I don't think that is any of your business," Laura said, a tad stonily. It was more emotion that Aki was used to seeing in Laura. It was... refreshing.  
  
"Just tell me if you need me to make any cliched older brother threats. Or, if he breaks your heart, to forego the threat and skip to the kitchen knives."  
  
"Dad wouldn't want you to use the knives to kill people," Laura said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Why else do we keep them polished?"  
  
It wasn't an outstanding day by any stretch of the imagination, but it  _was_  the day Daken got the tuque, left on the side of the steps for him to take. It had a faded white bull's eye on the front, something that seemed entirely too appropriate for some reason.  
  
It was the next day that was a marked occasion, when Aki found himself waylaid by a certain blond Storm on his way to a spectacularly unengaging math class.  
  
"Um, hi! Hiro, right?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
He tried his best to look completely unaffected, but it was hard when he was faced with the unpredictably endearing face of sheepish-Johnny-Storm, holding out his vest--newly washed.  
  
"I'm Johnny Storm. You know, from... lunch."  
  
  
"I remember," Aki said evenly.

 

“Hah, yeah. So, I, um... I just wanted to give you this. Thanks for lending it to me. It was cool of you.”

 

“It was my fault you needed it in the first place,” Aki pointed out as he took it. “It was only right for me to help.”

 

“It was an accident,” the Storm boy responded immediately. “Still, though. Thanks a lot.”

 

“You're welcome,” Aki said, watching him carefully. By the way he was shifting, rolling subtly on his feet, Aki could tell there was something else Johnny wanted.

 

“Was there anything else?”

 

“Ah, no. I mean, well, I was wondering if you were busy after school,” Johnny said.

 

“Not particularly.”

 

Johnny brightened significantly. “See, the baseball team's having a mock game later on after school. I'm... uh, inviting a bunch of people around school to watch. I'm batting. It's pretty intense, with our team.”

 

“I know,” Aki said. “I know the pitcher,” he added, by way of explanation.

 

“You know—seriously? You know Lester Graves? Guy's a whack-job.”

 

“Mmhmm.”

 

“I—sorry, I didn't mean to insult your friend,” Johnny said, whistling nervously. “I mean, he's freaking amazing on the field. But he's not the kind of guy people hang around.”

 

“He's not the kind of guy who'd let the whack-job comment slide, either,” Aki pointed out, walking on. “You're lucky you're cute. I'll consider not telling him what you said,” he continued, smiling at Johnny's stuttering protests, “if you skip the posturing and half-assed cover stories and ask me on an actual date. Swinging a stick around won't impress me either way.”

 

“I—it's not—wait, wait a minute.”

 

Johnny jogged over, catching up to Aki and keeping up with his brisk walk.

 

He looked over his shoulder before touching Aki's, stilling him for a moment. “Listen, I know this is no excuse but... people don't know I'm interested in guys. I mean, I'm bi, and I prefer girls, and this is sort of a recent development and I've been grappling with the idea for the past couple of days and I had to go through a singularly painful talk with my sister—”

 

Aki hid his amusement well, but his mouth twitched as he interrupted Johnny's rant (through which he barely took a breath, an extraordinary feat for anyone). “I'll go.”

 

That stopped him immediately.

 

“What?”

 

“I'll go to your mock game later,” Aki said, shrugging, “but I'm serious about what I said. I'm not going to be someone's inconvenient gay panic.”

 

“Of course not. I mean, of course. I mean—a real date, that sounds great,” Johnny said quickly, and his cheeks were pink from what Aki assumed was loss of oxygen, but could just as well be excitement. “Saturday?”

 

“I'll think about it.”

 

He might as well have said yes, the way Johnny glowed. “See you later!” he said, and to his credit, he didn't even have to look over his shoulder before decisively kissing Aki's cheek and going on his merry way, a spring in his step that made Aki feel smug.


	6. The F stands for Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little peek at Johnny Storm's family life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GASP. CAN IT BE? AN UPDATE?
> 
> Yes. Small one, but good one.

_One day earlier..._

Now Johnny Storm thought he was a pretty liberal person. He never cared about trivial things like sexuality, or orientation, or identity, when it came down to it. As long as you're not hurting anybody, you're cool.

He always assumed his little family would be cool with it. Living with Sue and Reed (who married in Uni like old timey baby boomers—who even _did_ that anymore?) and Ben (who helped around the lab, lived in the floor below in their ten-story apartment building and was always around for dinner) made him realize that Reed was basically gung-ho about everything, so long as it wasn't a threat his precious science.

Social norms didn't apply to him the way it did Johnny's school. The day he came in, dropping his bag on the floor and putting his legs up on the coffeetable, and declaring “So I think I like guys!”, all Reed had to say was “Please get your things off the floor and your feet off the table, Johnny.”

“What was that, kiddo? I don't think I heard ya over Reed's rousin' enthusiasm,” Ben said, emerging from the kitchen, helping Sue carry what could have either been dinner or a very dangerous experimental sample. One memorable instance where Reed forgot to label his chemical compounds and Johnny licked the plate clean still hadn't taught him how to discern what could kill him and what was Sue's cooking. 

Fortunately, they'd long since gotten past the stage those two weren't one in the same.

“I think I'm bi,” Johnny said. “That's right, isn't it? When you like both guys and girls?”

“Sounds about right to me,” Sue said, cracking a smile. “I'm happy for you, Johnny.”

“I'm jes' relieved ya ain't gonna stop helpin' me pick up chicks,” Ben said, smacking him on the back affectionately, almost bowling Johnny over if he hadn't been sitting down.

“Wow, I feel so used!” Johnny said, laughing. “So you're okay with it, big guy?”

“O'course I'm okay with it, punk,” Ben said. “An' if some boneheads at your school give ya trouble, you just let ol' Ben Grimm have a _civilized_ conversation with 'em.”

“Well it's not like I'm... broadcasting it, or anything,” Johnny said, shrugging exaggeratedly. “I mean, Pete knows, but that's just because he's really smart and he said he figured it out way before I did.”

“Well all in your own time,” Sue said. 

“How did you come upon this revelation so recently, then?” Reed asked, actually joining in the conversation. It was always hard to tell when he was listening in on everything and when he couldn't register a simple sentence.

“What?”

“You said that Peter figured it out before you did, and that you only did recently, and decided to tell us first. Which is to say, something happened to precipitate your confession,” Reed said. “A boy, perhaps?”

Sue laughed delightedly, and Ben smirked, raising an eyebrow at Johnny—expressions that did not bode well for the teen.

“Hey now,” Johnny began weakly, trailing off the moment he realized he couldn't bullshit his way out of this one. “There was... somebody,” he said. “A guy,” he added unnecessarily. “New guy. At school. I mean, I don't know if anything's gonna happen yet, but I uh... I might ask him out? Maybe? I dunno.” 

“That's good,” Reed said, nodding approvingly. Johnny didn't realize how much of a relief it would be to hear him say it, not until his shoulders relaxed of the tension they'd been hiding against the plush of the chaise.

He didn't have a dad, and despite him being married to Johnny's sister and not being more than a couple of years older, Reed always was a little like a dad. Or at least a really stuffy, stick-in-the-mud big brother. And his approval, though Johnny didn't always seek it out, was wonderful to have, all the same.

“So what's his name?” Sue asked, smiling.

“Oh, uh, Akihiro. Pete said they used to call him Hiro. I guess that still applies.”

“Peter knew him, then?”

“Yeah. Get this—apparently, they were in summer camp together. Pete in summer camp, can you imagine? Anyway, guy's gorgeous. Uh, like, objectively. We bumped into each other in the cafeteria. Spilled something on my shirt, he lent me something to cover up, and I kind of went the pathetic and sad route and asked Pete what he knew about him. And tomorrow I'll try talking to him.”

“That's all,” he added with finality as Ben, Sue—and yes, even Reed, in the corner, kept looking at him expectantly.

“Remember,” Sue said. “You told us. So now we're officially meddling. Tell us how it goes tomorrow, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, Suzy,” Johnny said warmly. “I will. I promise.”

 


End file.
